Green schools are taking initiatives to clean the polluted air around us

As we gear up for winter, we cannot ignore that this is the time when we experience the worst of air quality across cities and towns. The air we breathe is filled with toxic pollutants like nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM 2.5, PM 10), lead (Pb), ozone (O3), among others, arising from multiple sources such as vehicles, industries and power plants.

Delhi has been infamous for its air pollution, for years, especially after the World Health Organisation reported it to be the most polluted city in the world in 2014.

Moreover, Delhi residents are not alone in grappling with air pollution. Many other cities such as Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna and Kanpur are also equally at risk.

Why has it become increasingly diffiicult to run even during early mornings?

Suddu was anxious. He tightly grabbed Papa’s hand to avoid getting lost in the crowd. This was the third medical store they had visited since morning to buy a mask. The first two in their locality had already run out.

“Papa, when will we go home? I am hungry,” said a visibly irritable Suddu. More than hunger it was the urge to get out of the crowded medical store. “As soon as we buy the mask, beta,” his father assured him. “But why is there such a long queue?”...

The girl would remember that winter fondly as the one when they made their last snowperson.

Her elder brother and sister and two girls and another boy from the neighbourhood had developed a ritual over the years. Every time it snowed substantially, they would leave all but one of their kãgers at home, put on their Duckback boots and homemade woollen gloves and head for the clearing between the walnut trees behind their mohalla.

As usual, I woke up in the morning thinking about what I would do that day. It wasn't a special day, my routine was all planned-up like other days. It was a holiday, I didn’t have to go to school. I was determined to do something new, see something different. I was thinking about going with my family to watch a movie or something like that. I don’t watch movies often but my exams had just ended the day before. Many ideas came to my mind, but that day I don’t know why...

Junk lovers, welcome a new addition to the group—the bees. Pollen is the only natural source of protein for bees, but every day it is becoming starchier—thanks to the increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is sapping the nutritional quality of pollen. Bees need adequate proteins to feed their larvae and maintain their immune systems; some bees store pollen to tide through winters.